4 o'clock in March

I got a photo collage from Google Photos of my March pictures and none stood out as "YES, this defined my month!" so I went looking for a quote.  I think, if anything, the above was solidified for me this last March.  March 14th marked 10 years in this city together.  I have never lived in one place for a full 10 years in my entire life, so that is kind of a milestone for me :). I've been "itching" for "what's next" for about 2 years now but through a series of experiences and conversations we've had this month, I think we've decided that THIS is where we are planted for now. . .yes, we've been growing roots but never too deep as to seem "committed" if that makes sense?  I think we are now. . .and that is a GOOD thing.  It means investing more into where we are, what we have, and, instead of looking down the road, just staying right here and looking around us.  It's a good feeling. 

Last month I tried a Picture of the Day experiment where I tried to take a picture of "life" at 5 p.m. each day.  Kind of like a Day in the Life, except it's a certain time through the month.  I've seen a few bloggers do a post at the end of the month with a random picture diary - sort of the same thing I guess.  This month I've been doing 10 a.m. and failing miserably.  I've found it's a very inconvenient time of the day for my alarm to go off to alert me to take a picture, so it may be a little more random. . .we'll see.  

Anyway, here's a recap of 4 p.m. in the month of March 2025

March 1st we were still in Florida with my brother, and had turned off my "5 o'clock" alarm the day before, but this is how the first day of the month began:I was on the beach unexpectedly (we weren't dressed for it) soaking up some rays.  I don't think I left this spot for over an hour - there were TONS of people around us by the time we left for lunch.  I did have a book in my bag and when Tom got up to walk the shoreline I read a bit too. Later we went for lunch at one of their favorite spots, Molly Goodheads, and posed with them then together outside, reminiscent of last time we were there several years ago.

March 2025

May 2021

This was my 6:30 p.m. picture, March 1, 2025.

March 2nd - my alarm went off while in flight and I had my usual window seat :)

March 3rd - I've got nothing!

March 4th - I must have been driving at 4 p.m. (meeting a friend for dinner before the game) and remembered at 6:30 - ha!  So I'll post two to make up for yesterday - my friend had invited me to a UTK preseason game.  It was a beautiful day/evening to take in some baseball.

I met her playing tennis - she lives out of town but her son is a student here and they have season tickets so I get to see her quite often during the sports season :)

March 4th is also my Pa Cooper's birthday.  

No idea when these were taken. . .do I look like I'm 8? 10?  So 40-ish years ago?  He died in 2000, just after Laura was born. . .such a good, good man.  He will always be missed by us.  (I'm top left, my sister top right, and my mother on the bottom - I remember that skirt she is wearing!)

March 5th - No chance this was taken at 4 p.m. (I play at 5:30) but must have been driving or some other reason I waited a bit - but here is where I play pickleball Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings.
March 6th - got nothing.  I went back and looked at my work calendar - I was at another branch that day so chances are I silenced the alarm when it went off without looking and/or was driving home and then just forgot.

March 7th - look who I was hiking with at 4 p.m.???  The others had already taken off ahead so we were on our own.  This was the start of our annual cousins hiking weekend.

March 8th - 

This is my "legit" 4 p.m. picture. . .30 minutes before the kiddos that were with us on this hike (or "walk") posed for me:

I'll tell you what - they are an AWESOME group of 20-somethings.  Two are "mine" and three are ones these boys have brought into our lives and into our family throughout the years.  So thankful :)

March 9th - 

Home again!  Funny enough, I'm sitting in the exact same place with the exact same blanket right this minute.  But there is no sun streaming through - yucky rainy Sunday this time around :(

March 10th - FAILED.  Again.

March 11th - we had our monthly Birthday Friends dinner so, although this wasn't taken at 4 p.m., it is my Picture of the Day :)

The birthday girl is the one furthest to the left in this picture.  I gave her Code Name Helene since she said she likes historical fiction and that is one of the best books I've read in the last couple of years.

March 12th - Looks like it was a productive WFH day.

March 13th - Ashley has been doing some loan compliance training. . .the first is the crowd we hosted, the second my actual "4 o'clock" picture - nothing too exciting about my desk calendar - ha!

March 14th - My dad's birthday

Some pictures with us over the last year.  I wasn't with him, but my brother was able to go up to spend the weekend with him. . .what a privilege to have healthy parents!  Dad turned 82 this year.

Here is my "real" 4 p.m picture that day. . .shopping at Costco with Laura and Tom (we are forever trying to find a life jacket that properly fits Laura!)

And Laura's and my Project of the Day - shopping for and filling travel bags for a group of Chi Alpha students heading out of state to look at some potential campuses in NYC.

Today I got the sweetest card from them all:

Doing things like this to support students spreading God's Word on college campuses is such a FUN thing to do!!  

March 15th - 

Splitting my plant again :)

March 16th - Looks like a typical Sunday afternoon. . .but this angle makes it look like I was sitting on the floor, which is unusual.

March 17th - I was sitting at my desk and walked over to the window and took a picture - certainly no more/less exciting than another picture of my workspace - ha!  What was I thinking when I chose 4 p.m.???  Most days I should still be at work, right?

March 18th - This was actually at 11:05 a.m.  We (two colleagues and myself) had traveled down to Chattanooga to meet the staff at this branch (bldg in background) and I must have figured I wouldn't get a 4 p.m. picture because I wasn't driving and it would be weird to explain what I was doing if my alarm went off at 4, right?

March 19th - What a weird angle. . .I wonder if I was working from my deck chair out back and wanted to make sure I got a picture of the sunshine??  

March 20th - 

Thank goodness for the girls my boys have brought into our lives - Ellie sent the above picture from dinner that she, Laura, and Robert were having together in Chattanooga :). Another day I "forgot" a picture - so happy to have this one. . .not only to capture the day, but to capture the genuine friendships that these adult kids have with one another.  It makes this mama's heart so, so happy that they would choose to spend time together (and share it with me).

March 21st - This was the first time I ordered from this retailer and needed to send a couple things back. . .I like the other items that came with the shipment though!  
March 22nd - tennis OUTSIDE - yay!!

March 23rd - Ellie to the rescue again!!  She sent me this from Pensacola - she and the Bell Brothers went to the beach for Robert to compete in a CrossFit competition.  I didn't get a picture for me from the day until 5:30 when Tom was putting dinner on the grill, compliments of Erin

March 24th - looks like I gave myself two choices this day. . .one at 3:45 p.m. (must have been taking a break in the sunshine with the doggy and then 8:15 p.m. - the other doggie waiting in the driveway for us to get home from our walk with that first one (poor girl. . .she just can't make it the full way around our neighborhood some nights)

Yep, that's all we have these days. . .pictures of the doggies :)

March 25th - 

I was out getting pricing on some items for an upcoming event. . .who knew there were so many Yeti choices out there?!?

March 26th - 

I promise I was stopped. . .just didn't want to "forget" again. . .these are my days. . .tennis on the floor, work on the seat, pickleball in the backseat. . .drinks and it looks like a treat for myself from Culver's :)

Looks like PB was my next stop - there's my new bag lined up on the fence with all my teammates!

March 27th - My mom's birthday!

When I put "Mom" into Google Photos it gave me an array from the last 15 years!  Wow.  Those two at the bottom are from a wedding and then an Easter that were definitely a long time ago. . .the large one of my sister, mother, and cousin is from my cousin's memorial in 2017. . .and that upper right one from her neck surgery. . .I don't remember exact places or circumstances of the other two but Google photos sure picked some good ones!

My sister sent this one from their birthday dinner out and "my" Picture of the Day didn't happen until 5:30 - Laura often calls me on my way home from work on Thursdays and when I get home I usually continue to sit in the car to talk to her.  I want to remember ALL these times of connection with my kiddos :)

March 28th - at 4:30 p.m. I was wrestling with these two :)

And on March 29th at 4 p.m. I must have been walking home with them from Nana & Grandpa's.  Chelsea walks by herself to-and-from their house and I'm assuming I was dragging Radar behind me.  Zeroing in on our house, it looks like Robert was there, Rachel's car is in the driveway, Stephen's vehicle in the street. . .I was a happy mama with a full house :). Now that I typed all that possibly I had parked my car at the Bells because of all the visitors and I didn't have the dogs walking home with me that time.

March 30th - 

What a terrible picture - and an hour late too!  Got to go get my toes done with Erin last weekend. . .

May 31st - looks like I was late again. . .5:30. . .we must have had the dogs up the street to visit the Bells :)

I'm so thankful for this project!  It really gives me an opportunity to see, in hindsight, all the "little" parts of life that make up the bigger picture.  Although maybe not that interesting to anyone else, I am happy to have a reason to STOP each day and record a little something that make up the whole.

Since I have this done in time for Hello Monday, I'm going to link up with Holly and Sarah to share today.

Head over to their blogs and see what they have been up to also!

Happy Monday!

Love,

Jenni